


Just Like In The Books

by Rhensis



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging & YouTube RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Coffee Shops, Existential Crisis, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-30
Updated: 2014-05-30
Packaged: 2018-01-27 14:24:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1713842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhensis/pseuds/Rhensis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan and Phil are total strangers that happen to catch each other's eye in a coffee shop one day</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Like In The Books

**Author's Note:**

> this fic has some of the best dialogue i've ever written omg

He flicks his hair out of his eyes with a small blush as he stuffs some more of the school lunchroom’s chips into his mouth. The shouting of the kids around him drowns own the voices of his friends who sit opposite, talking to each other without seemingly paying the brown-haired boy himself much attention.

“Dan mate? You in there?” A pair of fingers click in front of his face, and Dan jumps, a small yelp falling from his mouth (along with half a chip, which makes his friend grimace). “You’re so fucking distracted, are you horny or something?”

“Chris! I swear to god, you’re such a dick. No, I’m not horny thank you very much. I saw this guy today across the street. Really pretty. Had these eyes, like the colour of the ocean, deep enough to swim in, I think,”

“Dan, that is probably the gayest thing you’ve ever said, and that’s really saying something,”

“Shut up,” Dan says, trying to fight away the smile threatening to break through on his lips. He hits Chris playfully and picks up a couple of more chips, but before he puts them in his mouth quickly adds, “Besides, I am gay, I’m allowed to say gay things,”

“If you say so dude. Just don’t spread the gay, I actually want to get laid at some point, and being gay might fuck up my chances with the ladies,”

Dan almost chokes on his chip as he scoffs at Chris’s remark. Chris giggles and turns his glance back to the girl sat next to him, who’s desperately trying not to look like she’s laughing.

“You know, to anyone else you would sound like the biggest bigot of all time sometimes, Mr Kendall,”

“Come on Dan, me? A bigot? I’m as likely to be a bigot as Nigel Farage is to be a racist… Oh, shit, wait,”

“You really think you’re funny don’t you?” Dan says, shaking his head as his lips tremble with the effort of keeping the smile off his face. With a grin, Chris leans back in his chair and makes eye contact with the girl, raising an eyebrow.

“I think I’m very funny. Don’t you agree, Emma?” Emma gives Chris an irritated look and shakes her head, scowling a little.

“Nope, I am not taking sides in this you dicks. You’re both three year olds, I’m not getting into this argument,”

“Oh, you’re no fun at all. And neither is gay boy over there whilst he’s crushing on some guy that he’s never going to see again,”

“He was older than us, anyway. It doesn’t matter even if I was to see him again, he wouldn’t look at a kid like me twice,” Dan replies with a shrug through his mouthful of chips, swallowing at the end of his words.

-

“I saw this kid today across the street. He was so pretty and it made me look so creepy because I couldn’t stop looking at him. He had these, like, chocolate coloured eyes,”

“Chocolate? What an original description. It’s not like you’re doing an English degree or anything,” a green-eyed boy mutters as his fingers run along the spines of the books, barely listening to the other boy’s excited whisper.

“Shut up, Pj, I’m not a bloody poet,” the original speaker, a boy with black hair and still wearing his work shirt from his earlier shift, which still has his name badge reading ‘Phil’ in capital letters attached to it. He feels stupid in it, but it’s so late in the year he has little time to care.

“I can tell,” Pj remarks with a smile, and Phil playfully smacks him on the arm. Pj fake pouts as he pulls out a book, eyes scanning the title.

“I won’t even see him again but I can’t push him out of my head,” Phil says quietly, more to himself than his friend, but it seems to catch the attention of Pj, who looks up with a sympathetic smile.

“Aw, that’s kinda sweet Phil. I mean, I wouldn’t spend too long dwelling about it, but still, don’t let it get you down or anything,”

Phil shrugs with a low sigh. “It was outside work whilst I was taking a break from my shift. He was wearing the uniform of the local secondary school so he might go to the starbucks often? I’ve never seen him before but I’ve only just started working daytime shifts so…”

“We’ve got exams, Phil. You can’t afford distractions,” Pj says simply, and Phil nods.

“Guess you’re right. Besides, he probably wouldn’t even look at me twice,” Phil lets out a breathy laugh, only to be hushed by people around him.

-

“You’re such a cock, Chris,” Dan laughs, shaking his head and turning his attention to his coffee. The shop is practically abandoned so their limbs are stretched out over the armchairs and Dan has his legs – which are swinging to the rhythm of the song he has in his head - hooked over the arm of the one he’s sat on.

Chris shakes his head. He hasn’t touched the drink in front of him, but Dan knows that he’ll just drink it in one go before they leave. He has his feet propped up on the wood of the table between them, his arms stretching behind himself, his face tilted so that he’s staring at the ceiling.

“Yeah. I kinda am. I do it to be funny, though,” Chris replies, his voice a little more subdued than usual. Dan frowns, eyes squinting a little, and puts his coffee down in front of him.

“I know, mate. There’s nothing wrong with that, I am joking. What’s wrong?” Dan asks quietly, eyes searching Chris’s face intently.

“I don’t really let what people say get to me a lot but… Like, people at school are being dicks and then – well, you know my youtube thing? I’ve been getting so much hate lately. Not attractive enough. Not funny enough. It goes on and on,”

Dan smiles softly as Chris moves his head to look at him.

“Don’t let them get to you, you’re gre-”

He cuts himself off as he sees the guy walk through the door. Tall, black hair, just a small amount of stubble, a galaxy backpack slung over his shoulder.

Dan feels his heart fall when he sees the second boy walk in after him. The smile falls from his slightly open lips when he inspects the second boy’s slightly curled hair and well-formed features and legs that Dan would literally _die_ for.

It had been a long-shot that the guy was even interested in guys, but this second stranger (who, Dan has to admit, is probably one of the most attractive people that he’s ever seen) is probably the black-haired boy’s boyfriend, and Dan’s hopes are all but in the toilet.

“Dan? Stop doing that weird zoning out thing, we were having a serious conversation you twat,” Chris snaps his fingers in front of Dan’s eyes, but Dan doesn’t turn his gaze, just shakes his head and points at the black haired boy.

“That’s the guy that I saw the other day. The guy with the pretty eyes,” Chris’s attention turns to face the boy too as he cranes his neck round, but Dan pulls on his shirt and turns him back around.

“He’ll notice that we’re staring at him if you do that, Chris! And it looks like he works here, so he’ll just kick us out if he realises!” Dan’s hushed whisper is pretty much the opposite of subtle, and Chris just rolls his eyes and sits back as he watches Dan’s eyes follow the boy’s every movement.

-

“Usual, Peej?” Phil asks chirpily, and Pj grins at the question.

“I’m going to skip the coffee today, I just fancied walking with you down here. I haven’t got anything to be doing…”

“What about those exams you’ve been lecturing me about?” Phil asks with a slight smile as he ties his apron up at the back.

“I fancied a walk, get me out of halls before I literally go insane,” Pj laughs, and Phil shakes his head, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re way too dedicated. You should try what I do – make it all up as you go al-”

Phil stops halfway through his sentence as he hears a stifled giggle from the door corner chairs. He turns to face them, and feels his face flush red when he realises that one of the brown-haired boys sat in the chairs is the one that he saw the other day.

“Phil?” Pj asks, but Phil’s attention is on the boy’s face – which is the same red shade as Phil is sure that his is too judging by the heat in his cheeks – as the brunette shies away from Phil’s gaze and looks back at his coffee.

“That’s him,” Phil mumbles, looking back at Pj, whose face is set in a confused frown.

“What? The boy you saw the other day?”

“Yeah. Shit. It’s so obvious that I was looking at him,” Phil starts to busy himself with making a coffee, trying to appear as disinterested in the teenagers in the corner of the shop as every other barista would be.

“Phil, seriously. If you want to talk to him just go and talk to him you prat,”

Phil stops and looks up at Pj, whose frown has turned into an amused smile that Phil knows way too well. He puts down the cloth in his head and turns again to face the chairs in the corner, only to realise that the boys have fled, leaving behind one full and one half-empty cup.

-

“I can’t believe you talked me into this. There are going to be over a hundred people and we don’t know more than two – and they’re only vague acquaintances,” Dan mumbles as they walk up the driveway towards the house.

The thumping beat of the music makes the ground shudder slightly beneath Dan’s feet, but he doesn’t really feel it due to the shaking of his legs. Chris grabs him by the shoulder and stops him from walking forward, smiling at him widely.

“You haven’t been to a proper party in months, Dan. We’ve finished all our exams, and so have they, so why not celebrate a bit? You’ll make plenty of friends,”

“They’re all older than us, they’ll probably laugh at us,” Dan replies, but Chris is quick to shake his head.

“We’re both tall, we look older than we are. Most of them probably won’t even realise providing you don’t say anything. And you never know, your precious barista crush might be here,”

Dan rolls his eyes at that and crosses his arms, trying to shield his body from the harsh breeze.

“Don’t even joke about it. We bloody left. If he’s here I will be  _mortified_ ,” Dan grumbles, and Chris laughs loudly at him.

“I was only joking. I asked Dean – the guy I know – and he said as far as he knows there isn’t a guy matching your little barista’s description coming to the party,”

Chris nudges Dan’s arm to try and make the brunette smile, and Dan glances up at him shyly. Without saying another word, Chris grabs Dan’s arm and starts to drag him towards the front door. Dan yelps, which makes Chris laugh again.

The second the door is open, Dan’s nose crinkles at the stench of alcohol and stench. They’re obviously pretty late to the party – there are plenty of couples up against the walls making out, and plenty of pretty much hammered people stumbling around and dancing drunkenly with their friends.

Chris shouts out to someone that Dan doesn’t recognise, and before he knows it, Dan’s alone in a crowded room full of drunk people whilst he’s still completely sober, and he feels a little sick.

Desperately, he pushes his way through the crowds, looking for any way out of the main room. He catches sight of a small shaft of light piercing the heavy darkness, imbued with the stench of alcohol, and heads right for it.

Somehow, he manages to get through and finds himself in a large kitchen. He looks around the room quickly and makes straight for the sink, reaching for the nearest glass and filling it with water.

As he puts it to his lips, he hears shuffling behind him and yelps. The glass falls through his fingers to the floor, smashing on impact. He winces, turning around to face the person that startled him, half-expecting it to be the owner of the house about to shout at him for breaking the glass.

Instead of flinching away from someone yelling at him, though, he finds himself standing there with a jaw hanging open and hands dropped to his sides. The boy in front of him is standing slightly crookedly, his jacket half-hanging off, and his hair is stuck up in all kinds of ways. Dan guesses that there have been fingers running through those locks, and he feels a pathetic pang of jealousy at the thought.

“It’s you,” the guy slurs, taking a step forward, which makes Dan take a step back. The small of his back hits the edge of the counter and he freezes.

“You’re the barista,” Dan mumbles, and the black-haired boy smiles.

“I’m Phil, and yes I’m your barista. I am also hella fucking gay and desperately single, in case you were wondering,”

A blush spreads over Dan’s cheeks, which makes Phil start giggling as he staggers towards him. For a split second, Dan thinks that Phil is about to fall on top of him, but instead he leans against the counter, standing right next to Dan.

“You’re pretty,” Phil murmurs, looking up at Dan with a slight wonder in his eyes, the kind you might find in a child.

“You’re pissed,” Dan replies with a slight laugh, wrapping his arms around himself.

“Yeah, I can’t deny that. But I have thought that you were pretty since I first saw you, but when I got the courage to actually come and talk to you, you and your friend had already gone, and you didn’t come back,” Phil says, a slight hint of sadness at the edge of his slurred tones.

“What did you want to talk to me for? I mean, me? Seriously?” Dan asks, looking round at Phil with a small grin.

“Well, I was going to recommend to you that you give me your number and I’d get a free drink, but it probably would have come out a lot less smooth than that,” Phil giggles, and Dan doesn’t think that he could get any redder. Even the tips of his ears are hot as he awkwardly shuffles on his feet, trying to figure out the appropriate response.

“Do you still want it?” He asks after a few moments of silence.

“What?”

“My phone number,”

-

“Wanna come round and throw eggs at my grandma’s house later?”

“Again?” Dan asks, staring at Chris with a little bit of disbelief.

Chris has Emma’s feet on his lap, and she kicks him in the stomach when he shrugs. He pouts, looking down at her, “What?”

“Tell Dan the truth of what we’re going to do, you dick,” she says with a shake of the head, and he groans, leaning back against the wall behind him.

“Fine. I was wondering if you’d come and help me carry out my master plan on getting one Mr Pj Liguori’s attention,” Chris looks down at the floor as he speaks, almost as if he’s ashamed of it, and Dan holds back an ‘aw’.

“Please tell me you weren’t planning on getting his attention by throwing eggs at his house?”

“Do I look like a fucking idiot?” Chris asks, and Dan bites the inside of his cheek exaggeratedly, trying to make himself look like he’s pondering the question. Chris pushes Emma’s feet off of him to reach forward and slap Dan across the head, but the brunette dodges by jumping up.

“No, it’s just I know you’re not exactly accustomed to dealing with penises rather than vaginas,”

“Dan, please. Sensitive issue here,” Chris grumbles, and Dan immediately pushes the smile away from his face.

He sits down next to his friend, crossing his legs underneath him and smiling sympathetically.

“Sorry,”

“It’s okay, man. It’s just hard. I don’t know. Are you in?”

Dan rubs his eyes with a groan, shaking his head, “Sorry, Chris. I’m going to Phil’s tonight,”

“Again?” Emma and Chris both ask simultaneously, and Dan shrugs, smiling again despite himself.

“I swear to god Dan, you spend more time at his house than you do at your own anymore,” Emma sys with a grin, and Dan sighs, leaning back against the same wall as Chris and fixing his eyes on the ceiling.

“He’s just great to talk to. And it’s so easy to kick his ass at video games. I never win with you two, it’s a nice change,”

Poking his shoulder, Chris quickly teases, “Hmm, I’m sure that’s why you love going to his house so much. Just because of the video games. It has nothing to do with the crazy crush you have on him does it?”

“Who said that it was just a crush anymore?”

-

“Fancy coming to the cinema later?” Pj chirps down the phone, and Phil groans, shaking his head despite the fact that Pj can’t see him.

“Can’t. Dan’s coming over. He’s finally gotten permission from his parents to sleep round,”

“Jesus Christ. You guys are inseparably nowadays, aren’t you? Don’t leave all us love-less friends behind, Phil,” Pj laughs, and Phil rolls his eyes.

“Ugh, you’re sickening,”

“Tell me that you two aren’t seeing each other, and I’ll drop it. I don’t get why you don’t just make it official, everyone knows anyway,”

“Because he’s still in secondary school and we’ve just finished our degrees, that’s why. His parents would go  _mental_ ,” Phil says with a sigh as he throws himself down onto the couch that he just made.

He knows that Dan doesn’t care about the mess, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t spend hours before he comes around making sure that his small flat doesn’t look like a bomb site. It’s stupid, he knows, especially considering the amount of effort he takes thanks to his fresh out of university, almost-single guy lifestyle.

“Nah. You’re a good guy, Phil. You rarely get drunk or go out partying, in fact you only go out when I drag you out. You mostly stay inside and play video games. And it’s not like either of you can get pregnant, so,”

“Wow, Pj. That’s so reassuring, thanks,”

“You’re very welcome, my friend. Look, if you’re not coming out with me tonight then I’ll just ask Chris instead,”

“Oh, who’s in love now?”

“Shut up,”

-

Phil shifts his head round as he wakes up, expecting there to be someone’s chest there to bury his face into, but instead all he finds his cold air.

“Dan?” He groans groggily, pushing himself up with the arm that is still splayed across the bed. He thinks that he fell asleep with it on top of Dan, but the younger must have pushed it off of himself in the night.

“Dan?” He asks again, more forcefully this time, and reaches for his glasses on the bedside table.

He looks down at himself and realises that he’s not wearing anything, and then he feels his stomach drop as he remembers the night before. With a muffled whimper, he pushes himself up out of the bed and stumbles over to his mirror, standing in the corner of his room.

Sure enough, he’s absolutely smothered in small bruises, and his hands drop to his sides. How drunk did they get?

He’d wanted to make sure that his first time with Dan was special and slow, but of course he couldn’t control himself whilst they were drunk. Now he expects Dan has bolted, and it was all going so  _well-_

He reaches for a pair of his boxers that are discarded on the floor and hastily tugs them on.

“Dan?” He calls out softly as he turns the corner into his kitchen.

“Phil?” Phil feels his shoulders relax from the relief as he sees Dan on top of the kitchen counter, hands wrapped around a mug. “Sorry, did I wake you?”

“No, I was just…” Phil trails off, not sure what to say for himself. He looks Dan up and down, noting the fact that the underwear he’s wearing is in fact Phil’s and must have been taken from his drawer (he doesn’t mind, in fact it makes his heart swell a little), and that his fingers seem to be trembling a little.

“The universe is a funny thing, isn’t it?” Dan asks out of no where, and Phil screws up his face a little in confusion.

“What?”

“Like, we saw each other outside of a coffee shop, and then it just so happened that you actually work in that coffee shop, and even after I bolted, we still met again just because Chris decided to go drag me along, and Pj to drag you along, to some guy’s - that neither of us even know – party,”

Dan speaks without looking at Phil, and the elder takes a few steps forwards, not saying anything so that Dan can continue if he wants.

“The whole fate and soulmates thing is bullshit, but like, it’s so weird. We never should have seen each other again after the first time. It should have just been a passing thing, like ‘oh, that guy’s pretty’, and nothing should have come out of it,”

“Do you have regrets that it did?” Phil asks quietly, putting his hands over Dan’s and holding them tightly, trying to help warm them up.

He can feel them trembling, so he holds them steady, staring into Dan’s eyes with earnest. Dan sighs, shaking his head with a smile, “Do you mean, do I regret last night? No. Not at all. Not exactly what I was planning this weekend, but. That’s not what I mean, anyway,”

“What do you mean then?”

“Like, coincidences. They’re so fucking weird. If it weren’t for them, then we never would have even met properly, and that’s so scary,”

“It’s like that with everything, though. Everything is chance or coincidence,”

“Yes, but sometimes it all feels like it has to be a little more planned than that, right? Or am I going insane? I don’t think there’s exactly a higher purpose, but there has to be  _something_. It’s not just us, though. Chris is planning on trying to hook up with Pj.  _Chris_. The straightest guy I’ve ever met. He probably still would be if he hadn’t met your friend, and they met through coincidence too. Or look at Emma. She and I both coincidentally accidentally managed to get our classes mixed up on the first day of school and now we’re both best friends,”

Phil doesn’t reply, instead he takes the almost empty mug out of Dan’s hands and puts it on the counter beside them. He leans forward and pecks Dan’s cheek gently, lacing their fingers together.

“Okay, it is a bit weird. I’m with you. But who cares? Who cares why it happened, so long as Emma is your friend, and Chris and Pj have a chance, and we are together. Who gives a shit how it came to be that way,”

“But, don’t you ever wonder-”

“Dan. You’re going to kill yourself with over-thinking. Please, love, don’t worry about these things,”

“I’m sorry. I do this a lot,” Phil chuckles and wraps his arms around Dan’s waist, picking him up and pushing gently on his legs to make him latch them around him.

“It’s okay. And we can do it in the morning, I will listen to you all you want, but it’s the middle of the night. I’ll carry you back to bed,” Phil’s voice is so quiet that even if there were anyone else in the room, no one would have been able to hear him but Dan.

“Okay. Thank you,”

-

“Do you think that they finally slept together?” Chris giggles, passing the bottle to Pj, who passes it to Emma in turn.

“Hopefully,” Emma says, looking over at Chris.

“Seriously, if they haven’t then there’s something wrong with them,” Chris replies, a grin on his face.

“Or they just want to take things slowly,” Pj interrupts, and Chris leans over to slot their lips together.

“Like we’re going slowly?” He mumbles against the other’s lips as he pulls away, and he can feel the heat radiating off Pj’s face from the blush.

“Get a room,” Emma groans, grimacing and turning away. 


End file.
